THE HİSTORY OF GODİVA CHOCOLATE

The Story of Lady Godiva
Godiva is a workshop / company of handmade chocolate established in the honor of legendary leader Lady Godiva by the famous chocolate master Joseph Draps in Brussels 80 years ago. Centuries ago, the beautiful and generous Lady Godiva became an exemplary person by committing her life to poor and diseased people and made significant influences on the public community of Coventry. Her husband Lord Leofric, on the other hand, became the slave of the power brought by his kingdom and became an ill-behaved ruler who was living in his own world.

One day, when her husband imposed very high taxes on the country, Lady Godiva protested the situation and demanded him to immediately cancel the new taxes. Upon this, Lord Leofric made a very surprising offer to her. He said that he would remit the taxes only if Lady Godiva would pass through the streets of the city naked and local community would not go out street and look at her. When it came to her own public, Lady Godiva was always very generous. She accepted the offer made her husband. There was no other way to convince him. The sun rose and it was 6 o'clock in the morning. Bells began to be heard in the cobblestoned streets. As they promised, people kept their curtains and shutters closed. Lady Godiva slowly dropped her velvet cloak to the ground and began to walk with small elegant steps. Her bright skin was almost radiating light to the city. Despite the echoing of her horse's steps across streets, not a single person glimpsed at her. When her travel was completed, the handclaps heard in the streets of town was like deafening. This courage of Lady Godiva gave a great lesson to her husband. And the Lord remitted the taxes as he promised. The story of Lady Godiva has never been forgotten since then. On the contrary, it has become deepened and empowered. Centuries later, the famous Belgian chocolate maker Joseph Draps developed a chocolate series with an extraordinarily rich content that was a combination of passion and purity. For the series, he was seeking a name that contained the concepts of passion, style, lust and courage. It was not difficult at all for him to find the answer!

''Godiva''

The History of Godiva Chocolate Maker
Having been born in Brussels, it is not surprising at all that Godiva is one of the most elegant makers of handmade chocolates of the world because Belgians identified with their culture their search for excellence from Rubens paintings to their Gothic architectures and from sophisticated lacework products to their brilliant crystals. Having acknowledged this centuries old culture as his fundamental philosophy, Joseph Draps introduced his Godiva chocolate to the people of Belgium in 1926. Draps opened his first store in the ''Grand Palace'' street paved with faced stones and he offered his unique formula for sale. The great importance it attaches to details, Godiva has adopted "innovation" as a standard with its different chocolate patterns, modern and elegant packages. Determinedly sticking with these standards in the course of years, Draps preserved his recipes very carefully. Remaining firmly loyal to the heritage of Draps, Godiva has attained excellence in the world of chocolate.

The Global Taste of Godiva
As the success story and the taste of Godiva was spreading, Joseph Draps decided to promote his brand in the international markets. The first Godiva boutique outside Belgium was opened in the ''Rue St. Honoré'' street in Paris in 1958. It was immediately followed by the shops opened in England, Germany and Italy. The Godiva brand then turned to North America and, in 1966, it opened its first store in the North America in Wanamaker, Philadelphia, which was one of the most elegant malls of the country. Then the first Godiva boutique in the North America was opened in the Fifth Avenue, the classiest street of New York, in 1972. The growth of Godiva continued in Asia as well. In 1972, Godiva was offered in the shopping center Nihonbashi Mitsukoshi in Tokyo and then it managed to enter Sogo, the most luxurious shopping center of Hong Kong, in 1998.

The Godiva Brand Today
Godiva has been maintaining its leadership in the category of "Premium Chocolate" from the first day that it was introduced in the American market. Today, Godiva has more than 450 boutiques and shops in 84 countries in total. Offering the best handmade chocolates of the world from New York to Tokyo and Istanbul, Godiva continues to prepare its unique tastes as in its first day the heart of Lady Godiva and mastership of Joseph Draps.

Possessing the leader premium brand of the world in the field of chocolate and chocolate containing products since its establishment, Godiva joined Yıldız Holding, which is the leader food organization of Turkey, in 2007. Since 2004, Godiva has been implementing a global revival in order to improve its understanding of innovativeness and to increase its diversity of presentation beside its traditional gift choices. In addition to the extension of its product range, in this context, presentations in shops have been renewed and new marketing applications have been launched. With new series that can be defined as a fusion of art and chocolate, Godiva has been presented to the taste of chocolate lovers with a new collection that combines various elegance tastes from all over the world. It continues to make consumers happy with the "gold" series, which is one of the most popular chocolate presentations of all times.